Scared Syria Evacuees Stuck at Site of Deadly Bombing

by Naharnet Newsdesk 1 year

Hundreds of frightened Syrian evacuees from two besieged government-held towns were stuck at a rebel-held transit point on Thursday where dozens of their fellow townspeople were killed in a weekend bombing.

The 3,000 evacuees, who had left their homes at dawn on Wednesday, spent the night in buses in a marshalling area in Rashidin, west of government-held second city Aleppo, awaiting onward transport to safety.

Some 300 evacuees from rebel-held towns were similarly held up at a staging point at Ramussa in government-held territory.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the delay was the result of 11th-hour rebel demands for the release of prisoners held by the government.

"The convoys will not move until after the release of 750 prisoners -- men and women -- from regime prisons and their arrival in rebel-held areas," the British-based monitoring group said.

The hard-won resumption of evacuations on Wednesday came after a suicide car bomber killed 126 people, 68 of them children, in Rashidin on Saturday.

Most of the dead were evacuees from the government-held Shiite-majority towns of Fuaa and Kafraya, with a handful of aid workers and rebels guarding the convoy also killed.

Armed rebels were standing guard at Rashidin on Wednesday and carefully inspecting vehicles arriving in the area.

The current evacuations mark the end of the first stage of a deal brokered by rebel supporter Qatar and government backer Iran late last month. A second phase is due to begin in June.

Fuaa and Kafraya will be emptied entirely, with residents and fighters heading to Aleppo and then on to government-held Latakia or Damascus.

All rebels are expected to leave Madaya, Zabadani, and other nearby oppositions-held areas, but civilians who want to remain may do so.

Those leaving rebel-held areas will head to Idlib province, which is held by an opposition alliance.

The refugees the world doesn't care about. They don't have al Jazeera defending their cause.

ex-fpm
1 year

Al Manar and IRNA are not doing the job for you?

galaxy
1 year

"So how many people in the west watch al Manar?"

now you care about the zionist pro israeli west that created and still sponsors al qaeda ya irani? You should only be concerned with Iran.

gigahabib
1 year

So how many people in the west watch al Manar?

Mystic
1 year

Al Manar is removed by Arab sat a fra years ago.
Saudi can not accept the truth being told, so they remove any anti Wahabi/Zionist channels.

s.o.s
1 year

Yes, as you accurately wrote arabsat and Fransasat remove wahabi and Zionist propaganda, that's why they removed the sick Al manar TV network. They no longer tolerate zio-persian cheap propaganda. Thanks for this rare moment of honesty. I appreciate it.

Regards,

S.0.S

Which reminds me that the Iranian secret service SAVAK was founded by the CIA and Mossad in the 1950s to fight Arabs.

Mystic
1 year

Saudi Arabia were good friends with the Shah dynasty.
Also, all the Arabs except Syria stood against Iran in the 80s.
Even though you stabbed Saddam in the back when he claimed Kuwait.

Even Saddam the biggest enemy of Iran was against Saudi Arabia too, and he was a Sunni.

Mystic
1 year

Saudi Arabia and the Gulf are measly cowards, when America told the Gulf to sellout Saddam, Kuwait lowered the Oil prices on oil to weaken Iraq.

The same Saddam era Iraq, that fought against Iran harder than any other Arab leader in the world did, yet you sold him out when America told you to, why?

This remains my biggest question for the so called "Arabs" here.

gigahabib
1 year

Lol at ZOZ complaining about stuff that happened in Iran back when it was still a US/Saudi ally...

galaxy
1 year

lol @ 'refugees'..... the heretic still believes in the tooth fairy. Made up stories and drama to drum up sympathy but it is not happening.

gigahabib
1 year

I forgot, only al Qaeda terrorists are termed as refugees by Gulf media, not the actual civilians.

galaxy
1 year

refugees ya heretic? They are being taken to other areas to occupy sunni homes and land. That is not considered being a 'refugee'.

But then again you were were never credited with being anything but a sectarian heretic.

gigahabib
1 year

No, millions of Syrian refugees are fleeing the Wahhabi invaders.

gigahabib
1 year

Millions have gone to government held areas (and yes, most of them are Sunnis). Why? Because they feel safer there than among throat-cutting savages.